Finnentrop

Finnentrop
Bamenohl castle
Coat of arms
Finnentrop
Location of Finnentrop within Olpe district
Coordinates: 51°10′N 07°58′E / 51.167°N 7.967°ECoordinates: 51°10′N 07°58′E / 51.167°N 7.967°E
Country	Germany
State	North Rhine-Westphalia
Admin. region	Arnsberg
District	Olpe
Government
• Mayor	Dietmar Heß (CDU)
Area
• Total	104.34 km^2 (40.29 sq mi)
Population (2014-12-31)[1]
• Total	16,999
• Density	160/km^2 (420/sq mi)
Time zone	CET/CEST (UTC+1/+2)
Postal codes	57413
Dialling codes	02721, 02395, 02724
Vehicle registration	OE
Website	www.finnentrop.de

Finnentrop is a Gemeinde (municipality) in Olpe district in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Geography

Finnentrop is situated in the Sauerland, near the forks of the rivers Bigge and Lenne and is divided into the following constituent communities:

Ahausen with Ahauser Mühle, Dahm Altfinnentrop Bamenohl Bausenrode Deutmecke Elsmecke Faulebutter Fehrenbracht with Fretterspring Finnentrop Fretter with Delf, Giebelscheid Frettermühle with Mißmecke

Frielentrop Gierschlade with Schwartmecke Glinge Heggen Hollenbock Hülschotten with Tiefenau Illeschlade Lenhausen Müllen Ostentrop Permecke

Ramscheid Rönkhausen Sange Schliprüthen with Schliprüthener Mühle, Becksiepen, Kuckuck, Steinsiepen Schöndelt Schönholthausen with Besten Serkenrode Weringhausen Weuspert with Klingelborn Wiebelhausen Wörden

History

While the municipality of Finnentrop didn't come into being before 1 July 1969, the history of the constituting villages dates back from the Middle Ages. In 1162 Lenhausen and Rönkhausen were mentioned for the first time. Until 13 July 1908, the place now known as Finnentrop had three names: Habbecke, Neubrücke (“Newbridge”) and, once the Ruhr-Sieg railway was built, Bahnhof Finnentrop (“Finnentrop Railway Station”). Neubrücke consisted of only one building at the forks of Bigge and Lenne (Reuters Haus, first mentioned in 1847). The “new bridge” seems to have already been built by 1847, as the “Reuter” had to charge tolls.

The new municipality was cobbled together in 1969 from parts of the old Amt of Serkenrode (Meschede district), the communities of Schliprüthen and Oedingen and parts of Attendorn-Land and Helden. This restructuring also saw the municipality pass from Meschede district (which was abolished in 1974) to Olpe district. The municipality’s name is drawn from the original centre of Finnentrop lying a few hundred metres up the Bigge river, and now known as Altfinnentrop (“alt” is German for “old”). The ending —trop comes from trop or torp, meaning “village”. The High German word Dorf is a cognate, as is the English word thorpe.

The municipal arms bear a rose under a wavy chevron. The rose stands for the Lords of Finnentrop (von Vinnentrop) and comes down from the year 1358. The chevron stands for the two rivers, the Bigge and the Lenne, which merge in the municipality. The colour green refers to the great swathes of greenery in the municipal area.

Finnentrop maintains partnership arrangements with:

• Diksmuide, Belgium (since 1979);
• Helbra, Saxony-Anhalt (since 1990).

Culture and sightseeing

Theatres & Museums

• Schützenhof Lichtspiele, 1954-vintage movie theater renovated in 2006 with 170 seats
• Kulturgemeinde Finnentrop
• Laienspielgruppe „Ostentroper Scala“
• Laienspielgruppe Serkenrode
• Heimatstube Schönholthausen (museum)
• Several choirs and singing clubs

Buildings

• Catholic parish church “St. Johannes-Nepomuk”
• Evangelical parish church "Christuskirche"
• Festhalle (festival hall) Finnentrop
• Haus Bamenohl (castle) in Bamenohl
• Reiterstellwerk (signal box)
• Ringlokschuppen (locomotive roundhouse)
• Schloss Ahausen (castle) close to Heggen
• Schloss Lenhausen (castle) in Lenhausen

Regular events

• Schützenfest (marksmen's festival) in the larger villages
• Waldfest „Im Schee“ Finnentrop (“forest festival”, weekend before Whitsun)
• Bürgerfrühschoppen of the fire brigade on German Unity Day
• Christmas market at the town hall (second weekend in Advent)
• Prunksitzung by the Lenhausen Carnival Club (LCC) (revue, Saturday before Altweibertag – Old Women’s Day)
• Prunksitzung by the Festkommitee Finnentroper Karneval (revue)
• Spritzenfest of the fire station Bamenohl (second weekend in August)

Economy and infrastructure

Among the nationally known companies in Finnentrop are a plant of ThyssenKrupp Steel Europe AG, Metten Fleischwaren (meat processing) and Eibach Federn (automotive springs).

Transport

Finnentrop station is situated at the Ruhr-Sieg railway, from where the Bigge Valley Railway connects to Olpe.

Public institutions

• Rathaus Finnentrop (town hall)
• Erlebnisbad Finto (“adventure pool”)
• Jugendherberge Bamenohl (hostel) (Germany’s first private hostel after the Second World War)
• Finnentrop volunteer fire brigade with eleven fire stations
• Jugendherberge Heggen (hostel

Education

There are several primary schools, one Hauptschule, one Realschule and one Gesamtschule.

Famous people

Honorary citizens

• Erwin Oberkalkofen, former mayor
• Ernst Vollmer, former municipality director

Sons and daughters of the municipality

• Henry M. Arens (1873−1963), original name Heinrich Martin Arens, politician who served in many offices in Minnesota, including the U.S. House of Representatives
• Eduard Bartling (1845−1927), entrepreneur and politician
• Josef Baumhoff (1887−1962), German official, newspaper publisher and politician
• Lawrence Becker (1869-1947)- American judge
• Erich Feldmann (1929−1998), Priester, Kirchenhistoriker und Augustinusforscher
• Johann Joseph Freidhoff (1768−1818), engraver
• Alexander Haindorf (1784–1862), doctor, Jewish reformer, psychologist, university lecturer
• Kilian Kirchhoff (1892–1944), priest, translator and dissident
• Hilde Mattheis (*1954), politician, member of the Bundestag
• Friedrich Georg Pape (1763−1816), one of the first German democrats
• Gertrud von Plettenberg (15??–1608), royal mistress of Prince-Elector-Archbishop of Cologne Ernest of Bavaria
• Paul Scheermann (* 1949), soccer player
• Klaus-Dieter Uelhoff (* 1936), politician, member of the Bundestag
• Reinhard Wilhelm (* 1946), scientist

Famous people who have worked in the municipality

• Angela Autsch (1900−1944), nun of the Trinitarian Order, died in the Auschwitz concentration camp
• Johannes Dornseiffer (1837−1914), priest, co-founder of many savings and loan companies connected with Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen
• Hermann Hagedorn, (1884-1951), German writer, lyric poet and teacher
• John A. Roebling, original name Johann August Röbling, civil engineer, designer of the Brooklyn Bridge
• Anneliese Schmidt-Schöttler (1920−2011), artist and hostel warden at the Bamenohl Youth Hostel

Further reading

• Bitter, Franz, Finnentrop Sauerland. Das Pfarrdorf, seine Industrie, der Eisenbahnknotenpunkt und seine Bewohner. Finnentrop 1955. edited by Sasse, R., 2005.
• Feldmann, Thomas, Die Finnentroper Chronik. Finnentrop 1994.
• Pickert’sche Sammlung, written by Voss, W., edited by Sasse, R., 2005,
• further collection of literature from the Arbeitskreis für Geschichte und Heimatpflege in der Gemeinde Finnentrop e.V.

References

1. "Amtliche Bevölkerungszahlen". Landesbetrieb Information und Technik NRW (in German). 23 September 2015.

External links

• Finnentrop.de (German)
• Finnentrop.com (German)